A letter from a young Jane Austen in which she confides she is to “flirt her last” with a dashing Irish lawyer believed by some romantics to have inspired one of her most famous characters, Mr Darcy, is to be shown in public for the first time.
The missive, the oldest known surviving letter by Austen, was sent to her sister Cassandra when the author was a fun-loving 20-year-old about to write the story that became Pride and Prejudice.
